I disgraced myself by letting my Young female Harris break a tail feather.
I have no idea how it happened (might be while jessing : she has not overcome bating when being jessed - she hates having legs fiddled with).

Now, I imped the feather with a stainless steel needle (the shaft is not hollow), but it was not strong enough and broke.

As a result, I now have a 2 parts Feather with a broken needle in each part of the shaft.

I guess I have to wait for the moult, unless there is something I can do ...

Matty Bird

09-03-2017 10:45 AM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

Why panic. Just put the bird down to moult.

Chance

09-03-2017 11:03 AM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

Exactly, put her down to moult and forget about it, after the moult make sure she gets plenty of manning and hopefully the bating will stop. John

Shaun Bannister

09-03-2017 11:18 AM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

if you intend to continue flying the bird in siome way can i ask why are you imping so far down the shaft ? snip it back a lot higher up and imp where you have hollow shaft either side,needles are poor as they can soon begin to rotate a snipped off hairclip might be a better option

if the bird is still jumpy whilst carrying out basic actions pop a hood on

Yfh2

09-03-2017 02:17 PM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

Shaun, thanks for the point. The thing is, at this stage I did not have spare feathers (first bird, first broken feather). But I'll spare some in the future ...
I'll also try to get her to accept hooding (not tried that yet).

As for molting, if I wanted to trigger it (overfeeding, as far as I understand), would it work on a 6 month old bird, and by temperatures around 15°C ?).

Shaun Bannister

09-03-2017 05:31 PM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yfh2
(Post 2153055)

Shaun, thanks for the point. The thing is, at this stage I did not have spare feathers (first bird, first broken feather). But I'll spare some in the future ...
I'll also try to get her to accept hooding (not tried that yet).

As for molting, if I wanted to trigger it (overfeeding, as far as I understand), would it work on a 6 month old bird, and by temperatures around 15°C ?).

use a pigeon feather its perfectly suitable ,light length affects the moult speed ,food only effects the feather quality

hh tend to begin early apil /may dependant on when they were hatched

late stage hooding of a hh is straightforward enough if you have experience in hooding and a well fitting hood

Phil71

22-07-2017 11:38 AM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

You can get carbon fibre rods now for imping wich are more flexible lighter,I know the IBR shop sells the and i think a few others do,always worth getting some just in case,and if accipiter owner a must lol

Shaun Bannister

22-07-2017 01:42 PM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

or just split some old tent poles its the same stuff

Phil71

22-07-2017 02:39 PM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

dont be saying that you have just put my family tent in jeopardy if it falls apart in the lakes in a few weeks the blames on you lol

Shaun Bannister

22-07-2017 02:53 PM

Re: Youg FHH imping issue

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil71
(Post 2155189)

dont be saying that you have just put my family tent in jeopardy if it falls apart in the lakes in a few weeks the blames on you lol